page_title: ST Aerospace A-4SU Super Skyhawk
section_title: Secondary role
hierarchical_section_title: ST Aerospace A-4SU Super Skyhawk / Operational history / Secondary role
caption_attribution_description: Singapore bases a squadron of these at Cazaux Air Base in the south of France.
context_page_description: The ST Aerospace A-4SU Super Skyhawk is a major upgrade project of the Douglas A-4S Skyhawk attack aircraft undertaken by Singapore Aircraft Industries in the 1980s. It was used exclusively by the Republic of Singapore Air Force, serving in the fighter-bomber role from 1989 until retirement from front line service in 2005. Since mid-1999, the A-4SU took on the additional role of being the designated advanced jet trainer aircraft for the RSAF's AJT training program/detachment in Cazaux, France.
context_section_description: In 1998, the French government offered the use of facilities at Cazaux Air Base. A 25-year lease for basing rights of 18 A-4SU aircraft and approximately 250 RSAF personnel and their families was signed later that year. Back in Singapore, 143 Squadron was disbanded in 1997, and its aircraft were handed over to 150 Squadron, which had given up its SIAI-Marchetti SF.260 basic trainers. The new squadron then took up the role of advanced jet training, using its aircraft as a lead-in fighter trainer for RSAF pilots. This made it the prime candidate for moving to France, and the first of 18 aircraft were "packed" and sent to France by ship in mid-1999 as part of the RSAF's Advanced Jet Training Program. The 11 remaining training aircraft (4× A-4SU and 7× TA-4SU) were originally scheduled to retire in 2007 but remained in service until the delivery of their replacement, the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master, which was scheduled for 2012.
caption: TA-4SU (933) on the flightline of Cazaux Air Base in 2004
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